1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a hinge mechanism, and more particularly to a hinge mechanism operational with a relative motion between a bush and a camshaft.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cellular phones have come into general use with the close communication and the frequent need to exchange data and thus have become indispensable tools for modern people due to the features of compactness, portability, and convenience.
Referring to FIG. 1, an exploded view of a flip phone is shown. The flip phone 100 includes a housing 102 and a flip 104. The housing 102 includes a display section 103, an operation section 105, buttons 106, and a liquid crystal display (LCD) 108. The display section 103 is situated higher than the operation section 105. The buttons 106 are disposed on the operation section 105 and are used as the method of input. LCD 108 is positioned on the display section 103 and is used for display.
The flip 104 has a sleeve 110 connected with one end of the flip 104. The shafts 112a and 112b are disposed at two ends of the sleeve 110 respectively. The housing 102 has a sunken part 114, which includes two holes 116a and 116b for receiving two shafts 112a and 112b respectively at opposite sides of the sunken part 114. When assembling the flip 104 to the housing 102, the sleeve 110 is installed in the sunken part 114 along the direction of the arrow sign 150 in FIG. 1, and then the shafts 112a and 112b are installed in the respective holes 116a and 116b for the rotation of the flip 104.
In general, the sleeve 110, the shafts 112a and 112b, the sunken part 114, and the holes 116a and 116b are called a hinge mechanism, which pivots the flip 104 on the housing 102. Since the housing 102, the sunken part 114, and the holes 116a and 116b are formed as an unit and the flip 104, the sleeve 110, and the shafts 112a and 112b are also formed as an unit, it requires a strenuous effort to assemble and disassemble the flip phone 100. The sleeve 110 and the sunken part 114 are easily damaged in the attempt to separate the flip 104 from the housing 102 due to the tight configuration of the hinge mechanism, while the flip phone 100 requires repairing. Additionally, all components of the hinge mechanism would have to be discarded along with the damaged flip 104 and housing 102, which is a costly waste.